Analyze Thomas Wyatt’s love poems with special reference to his style, approach and subject matter.

A popular theme for courtly poetry, forsaken love is often a surface theme in Wyatt’s works, though sometimes it is used to cover a deeper political sentiment. Poems which refer to abandoned lovers would be ‘Madam, Withouten Many Words’, And Wilt Thou Leave Me Thus?’, ‘Farewell, Love’, ‘What no, Perdie!’ and ‘My Heart I Gave Thee’. What typifies these poems is the traditional regretful sentiment of lost love mingled with elements of cynicism and even anger. Wyatt’s love poems have a bitter edge, which makes his work distinct from that of his predecessors, like Petrarch, and his successors, like Shakespeare. Petrarch’s sonnets have elegance, Shakespeare’s have wit, Wyatt’s have dynamism and vitality.

Wyatt also appears to have had a strong sense of justice with regard to relationships. His work contains criticism and condemnation of the treachery of those around him. His translations of sonnets such as ‘Whoso List To Hunt?’, ‘They Flee From Me’ and ‘Forget Not Yet’ are used to present his frustration and condemnation of the transitory, sometimes even fatal, implications of the bonds which are made, and broken, within the court. A common theme of the spurned lover exists through Petrarch’s work, and to some extent Wyatt utilizes this theme in poems such as ‘My Heart I Gave Thee’ and songs such as ‘Madam, Withouten Many Words’. Often his acknowledgement of betrayal can work on several levels, with criticism being implied of not just his lady, but also his peers and his king.